Name: Joe Carey
Section: ENGL 1301.019
Date: April 1, 2004
Assignment: Movie Review

The Truman Show is a movie about a man who is the only unknowing cast member of a reality TV show about his life.  The movie chronicles the events of the last couple weeks of the show and the effect those events have on the micromanaging creator of the show, the conspiring costars, the loyal viewers, and the star of the show.  Watching this movie validates your paranoid delusions and feelings of self-importance.  It suggests to you: maybe the world does revolve around you.  It could happen.

The movie begins by showing you an average day in Truman's life, just to give you a frame of reference.  The next morning, a stage light falls from the sky, crashing into the street in front of Truman's home.  Truman begins to recognize that everyone in his world is patronizing him, while at the same time trying desperately to dissuade him from leaving his small town.  He finds that when he breaks from routine, nobody around him really knows what they're doing.  His paranoia leads to more erratic behavior, causing his character wife to make revealing comments about the nature of her role.  People say really strange things sometimes, do they not?

The Man, excuse me, the show's creator Christof, shows little regard for Truman's personal rights, apparently thinking he owns Truman as much as he owns the show.  Even as Truman begins to understand the true nature of his world, Christof does everything he can to control Truman and keep him in it.  When he no longer can control him, he still begs him to stay.  When The Man has got you down, somehow you know that he really needs you more than you need him, right?

This movie is a documentary about the true nature of your world.  Watch it, and just try to leave town.